//------------------------------//
// Chapter ten 
// Story: The Adventure of Galloping Waves 
// by Evilhumour 
//------------------------------//

“Damn it to Faust, is there NOTING here that works!?” Luna shouted, throwing the picture across them room, causing the six other mares to duck as it crashed over head. The bearers of harmony winced, looking at each other guilty eyes. They had been going through Galloping Wave’s chamber to try and find something personal enough for the tracking spell to work but so for nothing registered. His books, his pictures, his clothes, his bed, they even tried his jade regalia which they all strongly doubted would work as they all knew he barely wore them and vocally didn’t care for them. Nothing gave so much as a blink.

Luna sighed, sitting down on his mattress that was still on the floor. They had thrown it off and even tried his…questionable magazines, which he hid poorly and would be getting a stern talking about later, sticking out from the side. She looked over to the side, watching Applejack fixing the pictures that Gallop left hanging crooked while Rarity sighed and fixed the messy clothes in his drawers. Those were royal clothes that he would have to wear at fancy events that his regalia would not be enough. Faust knows that she had a number of dresses that she would be expected to wear if those events ever happened. Still, he had not worn them in years and how were still messy?

Looking to the side, she stared at the one odd object they found in her son’s chambers. A bag of dirt, from Sweet Apple Acres it seemed, was found hidden behind his dresser. She huffed, finding out his secret to how he was always sporting some dirt on his coat. The bag of dirt did register a bit as a personal item, but not enough for the spell to actually work. Just as well, she could use it as a means to get an answer for why he had it once they found him. She was sure he would be very eager to get it back. He was very stubborn for some reason, as neither Snowcap or herself were stubborn.

“Dash, what are you doing?” Twilight sighed, looking at the blue mare as she knocking on the walls.

“Hey, I know the kid likes to hid stuff.” She tapped and listened to the wall. “I mean, he was a great hid and seeker when he was a little colt.” She bit her lip as she moved past the balcony. 

“So you think Gally has a secret hidy hole?” Pinkie Pie said with a smile, knocking the walls faster. “OOOH!” Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in the air. “Here’s a hollow part!”

“Uh, sugarcube, that’s his closet.” Applejack pointed out, only for Pinkie Pie to go in and wave them over.

“No silly, it’s HERE!” She pointed to a stone block that did look a bit off. It seemed to have the least dust on it and seemed to be rough on the edges, like it had been moved often.

Luna frowned, waving the mare behind her with her wings. Using her magic, she pulled out the stone to reveal a nice cavern beyond it.

Only for her to trip a magical line. With a yelp of surprise, some sort of liquid doused her entire body as she danced her way out. 

Sneezing loudly, she heard a ring of gasps and a magical recorded message. 

“To whoever tried to get into my secrets, I just want to let you know that A) I am heading back to catch you in the act and B) that you’ll have a hard time hiding with that poison joke bath you just got!” Gallop’s voice sang out, ending the message.

Luna turned her head to look at the waterfall in the room, hoping to see her son appear. Sadly, no alicorn hopped out.

What she did see was that her coat was now a mixture of pinstripes and plaids, with pokadot feathers! She rubbed her face, annoyed at this predicament. Her son was so grounded when they found him. Maybe she would even force him to sit in the Day Court as proper punishment and not be allowed his usual means to solve problems that were brought to him. The last thing she wanted was to attend another ten sets of those events. How he always managed to do so with the right ponies, she would never know but she did know that certain industries were dying for him to get to court duties again and drum up business for them. 

When they found him, that is…

“Um princess, you should see this.” Fluttershy spoke softly, waving her over to a very wide and deep chest they pulled out of the hiding hole, with the top to the side.

Blinking, she looked into it and gasped as well.

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“So Head Overseer.” The mare spoke candidly, having waited for Swift Thought give out his orders to his men about his plans for the pegasi population. He had presented a new addition to his pegasi plan to the group of overseers; that for any potential spies they had received were to be given very special and important words. The overseers were to, and he had stressed this point out very well with both his words, magic and hooves, tell that the spy slaves that their work was appreciated, that they would keep an eye on the potential trouble makers but as to protect them they could not give them any special treatment as they did not wish for their identities to be know to every other slave. They were told, that after a time, that they would be rewarded; moved to a new group that had less strenuous duties for a short while. Hopefully, some slaves would reject this and wish to stay and help their fellow slaves and root out the trouble makers. A gentle approach was required to dealing with the potential spies, he told them, under no circumstances to try and force the slaves to tell anything they knew and he would personal beat the overseer down that let the potential spy information slip into the slave population without his magic. She was pleased how thorough he was in explaining this, not allowing any to leave until they all proved to him that they could do without fail. And if not, that they would be reassigned to other duties with sharp punishments if they did talk. He also was clever enough to talk about other plans during the whole meeting, so if they were asked what they had talked about, they could honestly answer to a magical senor that it was his new patrols plans as well as several other minor things he implemented to improve the workload, testing it out himself on several of the overseers. After finally being satisfied with the new group of overseers that seemed to her beyond a doubt dedicated to their policy and would not botch it with random acts of violence, he had tossed those ponies out right from the very start, he dismissed them leaving her alone with him. “I can see that your talents were greatly wasted in simply catching slaves.”

“With all due respects my Queen.” He spoke, taking a short sip of water. He had been yelling when the overseers had greatly bungled an aspect of his or when he needed to get a point across. “It does take a great of skill and preparations to catch a pony alone, subdue them, cover our tracks and make the journey back here. This is simply explaining new ideas and plans and making sure that it will be followed.” He did it again. Simply ignoring her words, stating his own thoughts and ideas as if she was an ordinary pony. Still, he was polite enough to wait after answering her comment to drink more water. All, in all a very decent and effective adviser and Head Overseer.

“Perhaps it would be better to say that your talents were not properly placed in your tasks and duties?” She smirked, wondering how he would react to that. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, just allow himself to agree to that as it would put himself above her, and yet she knew he knew it was more aligned to the truth. 

“Perhaps it was acting as a means to train myself for this task.” He spoke slowly, looking at her with a hint of worry out his left eye from his calm, stoic mask of a face. 

She smiled inwards, nearly tripping him up. He wouldn’t dare to question or correct her words, even if they were wrong in the past. He would try, and so far succeeded, in responding in ways that both supported her statements and make his own remarks to the situation stand true to what he believe was true.

“Perhaps.” She said with, closing her eyes slowly. “As I have enjoyed your plan about this section of the slave population, there are several things I ask your judgement on.” She rose, walking to the door, forcing him to follow her out his own office.

“I will do my best to give you the advice you seek my Queen.” He spoke, walking a few hooves behind her, nearly head to head with her. He knew well enough that he was a close equal, but still a step below her and thus not worthy to walk side by side. 

She looked at the running healers, who were still carrying out his latest order. Swift Thought had advise her that it would be prudent to administer the same concoction that he gave her latest slave. It would prevent any dreams, and not to admit that the Princess of the Night was truly the alicorn’s mother, but the residents throughout Equestira had reported numerous of times that a being had prevented and stop nightmares from happening. As such to prevent from being discovered by somepony dreaming of the alicorn, that all should drink it. She agreed with his logic, pleased in how easy he found ways to address the obvious truth of the false diarchy and yet address the possibility of the powers they claimed to have. Others would have ignored them and convinced her not to worry. But after seeing her latest slave not only lay contently underwater but also stand on it as if it was solid ground, made her wary. As her Head Overseer said, only a fool would not protect against chances even if those chances were not possible and that despite how weak and pitiful her new slave was, he did have to get his powers from somewhere…

“I expect no less.” She sang her words softly. If her cutie mark had not been that iron crown she gained after dealing with ambassadors from across the world, she would expected it to be music related instead. Reaching her private studies, she waved her guards away so they could talk privately. “I would like your advice in how I should go about in training in my new slave.” There were a number of methods that she could use, with one that she already knew that would be the best but she was eager to see if he would reach the same end as her. She sat at her desk, staring at the stallion in front of her.

“If you wanted a severing pony, I would suggest hardness or cruelty but I believe we can both agree that it would be a waste to turn him into something so ordinary my Queen.” He spoke, staring at her horn, something he did when was fully concentrating, tuning nearly everything out. As such, he already slipped in thinking that he knew her mind. It did not matter that he was right, but she did find it fascinating to watch him loose his usual supreme dedication to keep balance between the two so easily like this. “I do not think making him the start of your royal harem would be a wise move either, as it would require a fair deal of devotion, drugs and conditioning towards you, to the point that his mind would nothing but mush.” He copied her frown; he did so out of respect and debt to the pony that saved his life to which he would fail if he allowed the alicorn to die in mind or body, she out of interest of what future nuggets of interesting notions she could pull out from his mind. “As we-you my Queen,” He coughed, noticing himself. “Have seen some wisdom from him, I would believe that it would be prudent to keep that in tact.”

“You have not yet told me a method to use, Head Overseer.” She frowned at him, wondering why he was grinning at her all of a sudden. 

“As I was saying, my Queen, I believe that it would prudent to keep his mind in tact but loyal to you.” He continued. “Am I correct to assume as much, my Queen?”

“Yes, you are.” Her eyes nearly widen as she realized she had accidently branched a step that brought him closer to her station before, when she directly asked for his advice. 

“Since that is the case, my Queen, I would advise in turning him into a devout slave who is in love with you.”  He paused, looking her at more closely in the eyes. “I would recommend in pushing him to the point of breaking with you comforting him at every step. He will eventually come to rely on you fully after he breaks if you continuously treat him cordially during and after each punishment. No mater what, you cannot display any anger or cause any unintentional blood lose or he will come to fear you. You must be there to comfort him and comfort him first once he breaks, assuring him that you will always be there for him.” He took a breath. “There is the risks, of course, of this method failing to work and for you to-” He stopped himself and looked at her with some hesitation. She was surprised at this, not thinking that it would be possible for Swift- “For you to fall in love with him.” Blinking, she looked at him confused. “You will be spending ample time with him, trying to get him to fall in love with you and as such you will be feeling the same emotions. There is no point in denying it and there are severe risks in denying it in fact, as it will leave you blind to other matters concerning him. The most dangerous time is when he breaks; if you say the wrong choice of words when you comfort him, you will be under his control.” He stressed that word out, his control. “However, this is the best method I can think of using to retain his mind and keep him loyal to you.”

She frowned inwards; he did reach the same end point as she did and did bring out the biggest potential problem of this whole matter, which did not cross her mind before which worried her. Still, she did want to get the best usage of her slave.

“Very well.” She nodded her head, putting that matter to bed for the moment. Looking down, she saw the reports her unicorns were requiring a new pony for the blanket disguise as one had died today. Well over a thousand years had left them masters at hiding. “When do you think we should place the mark on him?” She raised an eyebrow at him as she started to go through her paperwork, a small bit as she always got up early enough to deal with the large part of it so she had little bit to deal with throughout the day. Enough for her not to be disturbed but not enough for her to be boggled down.

“Tomorrow afternoon.” He spoke with an air of arrogance; clearly in his domain of knowledge. “Give his body time to rest and heal. The last thing we need for him to break due his body giving out.”  

“Very well.” She glanced out the window, the sun nearly about to set. She withheld her yawn, eager to sleep. “I expect you will have proper plan for the other two slave populations tomorrow?”

“I have some plans, but I recommend essentially the same for other two.” He nodded his head. “Regardless, I will go through my books to see what can be done my Queen.” That was one thing he had requested of her; his family books to be returned. As much as she wanted to study and examine them as they held ancient spells from the early days of Equestria, she had to give him his own one request. She wondered how much power they had if it was the first thing he had ask her for instead of releasing him from his life debt and freeing him of that matter. “I bid you a pleasant and empty dreams.”

“A joke Head Overseer?” She smirked, watching him leave. “I must say that you should not leave your daily occupation for one of humour, as you are horrendous at it.”

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Luna threw herself into the night sky, glad to be rid of her son’s protection trick. She felt so guilty from what they had found inside the chest, never noticing this side of her son. Out of all the years, they had no idea, no inclination that he thought like that.

She had read his journal, they all did. She cringed, nearly falling out of the sky, the words like knifes in her heart. If her sister wasn’t passed out from her alcoholic state, she would have taken her ear off for hiding this from her so long. She already had thousand of ideas they had missed, ideas that would help her son find out what his talent was best suited for. If only he had asked her.

Why hadn’t he talked to her?

That was the sole thought that repeated into her head.  Why didn’t her son come to her or Snowcap about any of this. Why? She had to find him. 

She had to.

The items from the box did work, but something was blocking her. She had a faint idea why, but she did not want to entertain it now. So she did one thing she knew she could do to find him. 

She went into the sleeping realm and searched for her son. She never told him this, no one knew this but her, but she had attached a leash to her son’s sleeping mind to her own mind when he was a very little colt. It was beyond an invasion of privacy, a complete breach of trust, a devastating secret that if ever got out would cause a rift between them for ever.

But she was glad she did. She could always find him when he was sleeping, always knew where he was when he dreamt, she always knew where he was and he was safe. That had given her strength every time he had ran off to Ponyville, to sleep soundly knowing he was safe with friends and family.

She searched, pulling onto that lead. She would find him as soon as she made that connection, she would destroy and slaughter those who took her son, and hold him so tight that he would never be hurt again. 

She grabbed to his end of the lead and …nothing. She found nothing. He was still there, there was another end to the tether but she couldn’t reach him. 

She couldn’t find him.

She couldn’t save her son.

She couldn’t save her little colt and there was nothing she could do about it.

Landing on some unknown hill, she curled up into a tight ball, whimpering loudly. She felt like this once before, when her jealousy of the praise that her sister got for her day and nothing for her night got so strong that it blinded her. It went deeper then that hatred and anger towards her sister, deeper then that horrid and misplaced jealousy. It was a hidden pain, that she never told anypony, too ashamed to admit to it. It was the pain that came from believing that her sister believed the same as the others did, that her sun and day was truly better and her moon and night were worthless. It was the same pain that came from believing that the one pony she loved back then had turned her back to her, that she lost the one pony she loved with all her heart. 

Luna, for the first time today, started to cry fully and completely. Her greatest fear was almost upon her. And if she truly did lose him…then…then they would pay. They would pay with their lives. She would dive into that part of her, that part of her she banished away so long ago and claim that power she dare not use. She would become the Nightmare Moon and they would wish for eternal night after she was finished with them.

For they would face her wrath, for harming her son. And nothing, not even her sister, would stop her. 



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